Head Trauma
by rockmysocks456
Summary: Arthur hurts himself but tries to hide it from the team. Will it stay hidden? Hell no. No slash, just friendship, but you can read it like that if you want. READ AND REVIEW!


_* ONE-SHOT. As in one chapter long. Haha, I MIGHT add on if I think of anything. Probably won't though... Anyways... no slash only friendship, but you can read it that way if you so choose. Definite Arthur whump. READ AND REVIEW!_

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CRACK!

That's all it took and a brightness exploded in Arthur's vision, quickly being exstuinguished by blackness. A ringing had filled his ears just as it happened, slowly ebbing away as he slipped away from consciousness.

He was out for about a minute before he awoke and wiped some blood from his throbbing head. He looked around, taking in his envirorment, recollecting what had just happened, and after asessing the situation thouroughly, he came to the conclusion that while he had been hurrying down the alleyway in which he know laid, he'd smacked his head on the low metal bar of the fire escape, attached to the building beside him. He'd knocked himself out. He was embarassed by this, and decided he'd just keep it to himself.

He picked himself up off the ground, and immediately his world began to spin out of control. He staggered, hitting his back against the side of the building and sliding down it, grasping his pounding head. He cursed, feeling the warm blood trickling down his forehead. He let out a low groan, and closed his eyes leaning his head into his knees which he'd brought up to his chest.

_I can pull it together. I can't be too hurt, I'll just clean myself up and get back to the warehouse before anyone starts to suspect anything. _

He made to get up a bit slower this time, the high pitched ringing screeching in his ear, increasing the pain in his head. He clutched the bar of the fire escape to steady himself, and stumbled like a drunk man down the sidewalk.

It was ten at night, and so none of the pedestrians questioned, reasoning that he'd probably had a bit to drink and maybe gotten in a barfight. He stumbled, occasionally stopping to lean against a building and take a breath. He finally made it to his apartment and entered, making his way to the bathroom. He examined himself in the mirror and was a bit startled by how awful he looked.

He was pale, blood seeping down his forehead from beneath his slicked back hair, and he was shaking pretty hard. He felt a sudden, but relatively minor wave of nausea hit him, he gripped the counter until it passed. He turned on the tap and splashed some water in his face, taking a towel to wipe off the blood. He then opened his medicine cabinet and took out a white bandage, and finding the source of the blood, he taped it securely before slicking his hair just so, to cover it.

He knew he must have injured himself in some way, but he was Arthur. He could handle it just fine on his own. And now, he had to get to work. He decided he'd take a cab to the warehouse because he didn't want to hurt himself again on the walk over if he fell. He took a deep breath before entering, putting on his signature expressionless face.

He walked in and saw Cobb working on a blueprint, outlining something in Sharpie. Yusuf was in the corner going through and labeling all his sedatives, and Eames was standing around sipping from his coffee. Arthur directed himself towards the computer to begin his research on the new target. As he walked the room still spun, and his knees gave way suddenly and his hand clamped loudly on the side of a chair. Cobb looked up, his eyes instantly landing on the source of the sound, and Arthur shrugged and said calmly,

"Sorry, tripped."

Cobb eyed him suspiciously and asked setting down his Sharpie, "Are you okay Arthur? You look-"

"Even more pasty white than usual?" Eames suggested teasingly.

"Well... Yeah." Cobb said.

"I'm fine." Arthur said a little irritably.

He took a seat in front of the computer and his sight slipped out of focus, blurring and focusing, blurring and focusing...

He closed his eyes tightly opening them again widely.

An hour passed and Arthur got absolutely nothing done because he couldn't focus on one thing for a particularly long time as the room would spin dizzingly, and remained fuzzy for quite some time.

A particularly painful migraine struck Arthur's temple and his head bent foward as his fingertips flew up to feel the pained spot. He dropped his arm quickly, afraid someone might notice and he arranged his fingers on the keyboard.

_Ignore the pain, Arthur. You don't get hurt._

"Hey, Arthur, c'mon we're going to go see what Yusuf's got for us today." Cobb said standing up from his desk. Eames set down his coffee cup and nodded.

"Alright." Arthur said casually.

He stood from the desk and tried with all his might to walk in a straight line, it didn't work. Suddenly his knees gave way and Eames, being the closest rushed over and caught him before he hit the ground.

Darkness had once more fallen over Arthur's vision, but he still heard voices, echoing agitatingly in his head.

_"What happened to him, Eames?"_ That was Cobb's voice.

_"Dunno! He just... fainted." _That was Eames, uncertainty clear in his voice.

_"I knew something was wrong with him!" _Cobb muttered and cursed.

Arthur felt a rough hand push aside his hair and then Eames said,

_"He was bleeding. There's a band-aid right there, and there's still some blood around it."_

_"Jesus! Looks like he hit his head on something... Why wouldn't he tell us?"_ That was Yusuf.

_"Because he's a bloody idiot that's why!"_

_"Arthur, wake up, love!" _

Arthur tried desperately to wake up, and after what felt like ages he wrenched his eyes open and stared up at the three men bending over him.

"Arthur what happened?" Cobb demanded.

Arthur glared and muttered, "None of your damn buisness..."

"It _is_ my damn buisness! Tell us what happened Arthur!" Cobb snapped warningly.

Arthur winced as pain reached his head and closed his eyes momentarily.

"Arthur?"

He opened his eyes and replied irritably, "Fine! I hit my head and got a concussion."

"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Cobb asked angrily.

"I didn't... Think it was that bad..." Arthur admitted irritably.

"Well..." Cobb said his voice softening, "Just don't move too much, we're gonna get Yusuf to check it out, okay?"

Arthur always forgot that Yusuf was a doctor as well as a chemist, this was useful on an Inception team.

"Oh...Kay..." Arthur mumbled dazedly, slowly sinking into the blackness...

"No! Arthur, stay with us..." Eames snapped.

"I'm trying!" Arthur growled, aggrivated by their persistent telling him what to do.

In ten minutes, Arthur was lying on the couch, Yusuf had told him _not_ to fall asleep, and to keep him awake, Eames sat beside him to talk to him.

"So... What'd you hit your head on?" Eames asked curiously.

"Fieerrescayyp." Arthur said so quickly Eames didn't quite understand him.

"Sorry?" Eames asked, confused.

"I hit my head on a fire escape, shut up! You probably would've done it too..." Arthur mumbled, as Eames laughed.

"I doubt it, darling. I'm not that bloody stupid."

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**_THE END! (Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? Could be better? SUCKED? Tell me! REVIEW!)_**


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